Are You Smarter than a 10 Year Old? (British game show)

Are You Smarter than a 10 Year Old?
Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? Logo
Created by	Mark Burnett
Starring	Noel Edmonds (Primetime: 2007 - present) Dick & Dom (Daytime: 2007 - 2008) Damian Williams (Daytime: 2009 - present)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	3 (primetime) 3 (daytime)
No. of episodes	66 (primetime) 120 (daytime)
Production
Producer	Twofour
Running time	60mins (inc. adverts)
Original release
Network	Sky1
Release	7 October - present (primetime) – 12 November 2007 - present (daytime)
Related
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Are You Smarter Than A/Your 10 Year Old? is a British quiz show currently broadcast on Sky1. There are currently two editions, one broadcast weekly in primetime, hosted by Noel Edmunds and a daily version, originally hosted by Dick and Dom, but now hosted by Damian Williams. The show welcomes contestants, who attempt to answer ten questions (plus a final bonus question) taken from primary school textbooks, two from each school year from ages 6 to 10. Each correct answer increases the amount of money the player banks; a maximum cash prize of £250,000 (soon to be £500,000) in primetime and £50,000 in daytime can be won. The show is recorded usually through the summer holiday months of July and the beginning of August at the Elstree Studios.

The programme is based on the American television game show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?.

Format

In each game, the contestant (an adult) is asked a series of eleven questions, spanning ten subjects (such as History, Maths or Social Studies) taken from textbooks for 6 to 10 year-old students. Each question is associated with an age level; there are two questions per age group, from 6 to 10. The player can answer the questions in any order, and each correct answer raises their cumulative amount of winnings to the next level (see table). There is a safe point after 5 correct answers, guaranteeing the player the value of the fifth question, and after ten questions players may take a jackpot question for the top prize.

Classmates

Along the way, the player can be assisted by a "classmate", one of five school-age children, in answering the questions. The classmate, chosen for two questions at a time, attempts to answer the question at the same time as the contestant, writing their answer on a virtual blackboard hidden from the contestant's view.

Prior to the show, the children are provided with workbooks which contain a variety of material, some of which could be used in the questions asked in the game. One of the producers, Hannah Dobson, is quoted as saying: “A lot of it they’ve seen at school, it’s just refreshing their memories, really”. However, when pushed as to whether the packs contained a random selection of the syllabus or a very specific selection of information, she replied: “I would say it’s somewhere in the middle.” It can be argued that the questions are actually not representative of the general knowledge of the average 10-year old, however, as the TimesOnline article states, to have entitled the show "Are you Smarter Than a 10 Year Old Who’s Been Handpicked for High Academic Achievement and Been Given an Answer Pack While You Haven’t" would not have been as catchy as the current title.

For the first two series, the children were hired specifically for the show:

Series 1

• Group A - Reece, Qasim, Louis, Lizzie, Katie
• Group B - Richard, Luisa, Lewis, Kaya, Kieran
• Group C - Lloyd, Meisha,Jack, Rhiannon, Jonathan

Some children were used as reserves and as such could appear in any of the groups.

• Lisa, Kieran, Ryan, Mae

Series 2

• Alice Nokes – Wallington, Surrey
• Alicia Lai – Peterborough
• Ben Wilson – Cheshunt, Hertfordshie
• Evan Coxley – Abercynon, South Wales
• Evie Taylor – West Sussex
• Harry Carnaby – Wickford, Essex
• Joel Britton – Leeds
• Jonny Taylor – Leeds
• Joseph Fletcher – Liverpool
• Josh Bainbridge – County Durham
• Kane Blackledge – Hornchurch, Essex
• Lily Johnstone – Burry Port, South Wales
• Luca Cericola – Heston, London
• Madeleine Slader – Hertfordshire
• Olivia Midgley – Brighouse, West Yorkshire
• Rhia Patel – Surrey
• Sam Tott – Broxbourne, Hertfordshire
• Sameera Khalifa – Bradford
• Sion Davies – Llanelli, Wales
• Yasmin Connolly – Shropshire

Series Three

The third series of the programme followed the trend of the series and featured 10 episodes, hosted by Noel Edmunds.

A further 20 daily episodes of the spin-off, Are You Smarter Than Your 10 Year Old were hosted by Damien Williams, which latter featured the parent of one pupil against the their child and the rest of the class, or a teacher against five of their students.

Date	Adult	10-year-olds	Relation
?	Chrissy	Chloe, Jade, Isabella, Claudia, Gracie	Mother of Chloe
25th December 2009	Stuart	Daniel,	Father of Daniel
25th - 26th December 2009	Lara	Santiago, Andrew, Roseanne, Ross, Gabriella	Mother of Santiago
17th - 24th January 2010	Danny	Megan, Eloise, Rachel, Fleur, Millie	Father of Megan
24th January 2010	Phil	Megan, Patrick, Tom, Alice, Jordan	Father of Megan

All of the third series episodes were filmed in HD and one in 3D.

Cheats

Contestants have three forms of assistance (two cheats and a save) each available for use once per game (up to, but not including, the final question):

• Peek: The player is shown their classmate's answer and may choose whether to go along with it or not - however, they must answer the question upon using this cheat.
• Copy: The player is locked into using their classmate's answer, without being able to see it first.
• Save: If the player answers incorrectly but their classmate is correct, they are credited with a correct answer. This is used automatically on the contestant's first incorrect response.

Once all three forms of assistance are used, the children no longer play an active role in the game.

Question		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
Value	prime	£250	£500	£1,000	£2,500	£5,000	£10,000	£15,000	£25,000	£50,000	£100,000	£250,000 (£500,000 in Series 3)
	daytime	£250	£500	£750	£1,000	£1,500	£2,500	£5,000	£7,500	£15,000	£25,000	£50,000

Jackpot question

The rules change slightly for the jackpot question. The player is only shown the subject of the question before deciding if they will continue or drop out. However, if they choose to see the question, they are no longer eligible to drop out and must answer the question, with no assistance from the classmates. A wrong answer on the question will cause the contestant to drop back down to the prize for 5 questions.

If the contestant gets any answer wrong (and is not saved), they "flunk out", and a contestant doing so in the first five questions loses all their winnings (if they passed the 5th question, they will instead drop down to that amount). For this reason, they may choose to drop out at any point during the game, which entitles them to leave the game with any winnings they have accumulated.

If, at any point during the game, the player chooses to drop out or is flunked out, they must face the camera and state, "I am not smarter than a/my 10 year old." However, if the final question is answered correctly, the contestant has the opportunity to claim, "I am smarter than a/my 10 year old."

Transmissions

Primetime version

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1a	7 October 2007	27 January 2008	15
1b	30 March 2008	4 May 2008	6
2a	21 September 2008	11 December 2008	13
2b	29 April 2009	17 September 2009	22
3	21 February 2010	24 April 2010	10

Daytime version

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	12 November 2007	1 February 2008	50
2	12 January 2009	20 March 2009	50
3	21 December 2009	26 February 2010	20

External links

• Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old at Sky One website
• Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? at UKgameshows.com
• Are You Smarter Than a 10 Year Old? (UK) at IMDb